The present invention relates generally to cotton harvesters, and more specifically to a harvester basket which includes an upper portion which may be lowered to reduce the transport height of the harvester, and to hydraulic circuitry controlling the basket and the compacting and conveying structure associated with the basket.
Modern high capacity cotton harvesters are typically very large structures and include a high volume basket. Because of shipping size limitations, present production cotton harvesters such as the John Deere 9950 Cotton Picker must be transported with a substantial portion of the basket un-assembled. Basket extension and basket conveyor parts bundles must be assembled by the dealer or ultimate user. In addition, if the harvester is shipped by truck, the basket lid has to be removed. Once a customer has received the assembled machine, he may find it difficult to transport the machine to certain locations because of its height. Moving the machine indoors for repair or storage is often a problem with the basket fully assembled on the harvester.
The disassembly of portions of the harvester prior to shipping as well as the need for the dealers to spend many hours setting up the basket conveyor and basket extension are significant disadvantages to the present arrangement. A custom operator, for example, who moves his cotton harvester from location to location often must have special lift equipment and must spend considerable time in tear down and setup of the basket, thereby reducing the overall productivity of his machine. Although structure with a telescoping roof section such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,519,189 has been proposed to reduce basket height for transport and long-term storage, such structure requires the disassembling of bolts and refastening of cylinder piston rods which adds to the time and effort required to make the basket transitions. Adding hydraulic actuators and controls can significantly increase the cost and complexity of the hydraulic system on the harvester.
To optimize basket capacity, the cotton conveying ducts extend to the top forward portion of the basket, and compacting structure located in the basket compresses the relatively fluffy cotton. The height of the ducts can exceed the desired transportation height, and relocating the compacting structure can be difficult during assembly and disassembly of the basket. In addition, maintaining a good even flow of cotton from the basket during dumping remains a problem.